


On opposite sides of the same war

by SuchASeeweedBrain



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Aliens are known, Alternate Universe, General Michael, Jesse Manes gets wrecked, M/M, Soldier Alex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:20:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21938845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuchASeeweedBrain/pseuds/SuchASeeweedBrain
Summary: His eyes drop down to the man’s uniform. Now that he looks a little closer he realizes something, he can read the name on his chest.He’s a Manes.Michael just saved the life of a Manes.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 56
Kudos: 319





	On opposite sides of the same war

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Secret Santa gift for the wonderful AndreaLyn!

Michael and his team are checking the site of the building they’ve just blown to smithereens. The building had contained important research and intel and when the humans had tripped an alarm, the automatic self-destruction sequence had been started. It should have given them enough time to get out, so they weren’t expecting to find anyone to take prisoner here, or anyone dead. Humans were stupid, but no one was dumb enough to stay in a building about to blow.

At least, that’s what he thought. He’s drifted away from his team a little, towards where the back exit would have been, when he hears it. It’s a noise that sparks some recognition in him, but he can’t quite place it. So he moves towards it. He probably should have called for back-up or something, but he didn’t.

He only realizes what he’s hearing when he steps around a large piece of concrete and he sees the man. The human. What he’s hearing is the man’s breathing. The death rattle. The man is clearly badly injured, even without his breathing, Michael would have been able to tell, he’s got a head wound and there’s blood all over him, like he tried to stay upright for a while but then fell over. His eyes are closed, he seems to have accepted his fate. There’s so much blood Michael can’t even read the name on his uniform. From his breathing, Michael guesses he’s got a collapsed lung, and his right leg seems broken.

If Michael leaves him here, he’s going to die. If he takes him in as a POW, he’s probably still going to die. The only thing that could save him is a healer, but there would be none willing to heal a human soldier. Michael should have walked away, or maybe broken his neck, given him a quick end. Stopped his suffering. But he was hesitating and when his foot shifted and made the gravel under it crunch loudly, the man’s eyes shot open.

His next inhale is followed by a sharp cough and some blood coming from his mouth. Yeah, he’s drowning in his own blood. Michael steps closer before he can even think about it. The soldier’s eyes dart to him and Michael feels like he’s been slapped in the face.

Under all of the blood and dirt, he’s clearly beautiful, but it’s the eyes that are Michael’s downfall. Big and soft and warm, brown like molten chocolate with specks of gold, long lashes and _scared_.

The next thing he knows, Michael is on his knees. The soldier’s head lolls to his side, he’s clearly fading fast. He mumbles something Michael can’t understand.

‘What did you say?’ Michael asks, he doesn’t want to get too close in case the human tries to take him down with him, but ignoring the last words of a dying man is not something Michael can do.

‘I needed to make sure the-‘ a wet cough interrupts the soldier’s words. ‘others got out. Did they get out?’ His eyes seem glassy and Michael wasn’t sure if the guy realized who he was talking to.

‘I think so.’ Michael says, his team hadn’t called out that they’d found any others. The guy nods, slowly and sluggishly.

‘Good.’ Michael can barely understand him at this point. He’s dying. Michael can tell by the way his breathing goes more shallow and he seems to stop trying to fight.

Something in his stomach lurches, something uncomfortable. He doesn’t realize what it is until he feels his powers swirl more insistently under his skin. His powers want him to save this guy.

It’s like panic overtakes him in less than a heartbeat. He can’t let this guy die. All he’d wanted to do was save his people, his friends. He was right there, dying because he wanted to make sure others lived, and Michael could save him. He could save him but he wasn’t doing it. What kind of monster did that make him? Antar says humans are cold, cruel and that they don’t care who or what they killed as long as it ensures their own survival. They’d nearly destroyed their own planet because of greed, but this is one man, one soldier. Michael sets his hand against the man’s throat before he can overthink it.

The soldier’s eyes shoot open and one bloody hand tries to grab at Michael’s hand. He thinks Michael is going to choke him. Bloody fingers curl around his wrist, but he clearly doesn’t have the strength to remove Michael’s hand.

‘It’s okay. I’m going to help you.’ Michael tries to reassure him, but he isn’t sure the guy hears him. His breathing becomes shorter and more panicked. Michael isn’t sure what else to do, so he just let’s his powers do what they want to do. He focuses on the soldier’s injuries. Internal bleeding, broken ribs, punctured lung, fracture in his lower leg, head injury. Michael pushes all of the energy he’s got into the man, his hand must feel like it’s burning against the soldier’s skin because he gasps.

Michael can barely keep his eyes open as the exhaustion and nausea nearly flattens him, but he can still see the colour return to the man. He looks less grey by the second. Instead his skin returns to what he assumes is its natural smooth, tanned state.

By the time he removes his hand and throws up, the guy sits up, hand scrambling at his chest, trying to find and injury that isn’t there anymore. Michael’s eyes are watering and he feels weaker than he has in a while. He just realizes how stupid he’s been when the guy starts to talk.

‘Did you just- what the- holy shit.’ Michael is a little busy trying not to pass out, but he sees the soldier lay his hand over where Michael’s had been on the side of his neck. ‘Fuck.’ The guy’s eyes land on Michael and even though he’s seeing two of him, he can still see the look on his face. Concern. ‘Wait, I have something for you.’ His hands start scrambling around his pockets. Michael sways, and the soldier reaches out to him, Michael flinches away from his hand. The soldier doesn’t remove his hand, he just brings it closer to Michael again, more slowly this time. In his hand is a bottle, Michael realizes.

‘What’s that?’ He asks, suspicion colouring his voice.

‘Acetone.’ The soldier says, Michael hesitates. He may still be seeing double, but he can’t read anything on the guy that says he’s trying to harm Michael. In fact, he’s in better condition than Michael is right now, he can see the weapon on his hip, yet he hasn’t used it. ‘You saved my life, I’m just trying to help you.’

Michael accepts the bottle. He wants to ask why the guy even has acetone on him, but he’s still really nauseous, so he should do something about that first. He sniffs the contents before actually drinking it, he’s not completely stupid. The soldier still looks shaken, but who wouldn’t be after coming so close to dying. The relief of the pure acetone is immediate and it makes Michael sigh. It’s like a cold rush through his body, all the pain and nausea and that weird feeling at the back of his head disappear. He’s still not back to hundred percent strength, that would take time, but at least he didn’t feel like shit anymore.

‘ _General_?’ Both of them freeze as one of Michael’s teammates calls out. The soldier’s eyes land on him and seem to take him in properly for the first time. Michael realizes his armour is probably a dead give-away.

‘ _General Rath_?’ Another voice calls and the soldier’s eyes widen.

‘Fuck.’ Is all he says. Michael understands he would be shocked, but something isn’t quite right. His eyes drop down to the man’s uniform. Now that he looks a little closer he realizes something, he _can_ read the name on his chest.

He’s a Manes.

Michael just saved the life of a Manes.

A _Manes_.

He must realize what Michael sees, because he goes tense all over.

It’s like they both move at the same time. They stand up, Michael sways with the sudden movement and to his surprise, Manes does the same.

‘General, there you are.’ One of his men appears at his shoulder. The moment he spots Manes he draws his weapon, even though Michael hasn’t. Manes has schooled his face into an impassive mask, but Michael can feel he’s not as calm as he’s pretending to be.

Right. That was the thing Max had taught him about. When you healed someone you would share emotions, feelings for _days_ afterwards. Amazing. Now he could share emotions with a war criminal.

‘Are you alright?’ Heath asks, also raising his weapon at Manes.

‘Yes, I’m fine.’ Michael says. Heath turns his eyes to Manes, they dart down to the blood all over his uniform.

‘Where did all that blood come from?’ He asks, and it sounds like he expects the answer to be that he was murdering puppies or something. Manes turns his eyes to Michael. Now that he’s healed up, it’s clear that he’s a very attractive man. He’s also looking at Michael like he wants him to answer that question.

‘He was injured.’ Michael says and at Heath’s questioning look, he elaborates. ‘I healed him.’

‘Why would you heal a _Manes_?’ Heath asks, disgust clear in his voice. Manes tilts his head and raises an eyebrow. He’s pushed his shoulders back and he looks like he’s trying to fake it till he makes it.

‘Are you allowed to question your General? Huh. Interesting.’ He _smiles_. ‘I was _dying_. If I had magical healing hands’ he wiggles his fingers in a ridiculous, mocking gesture. ‘I would have saved me too, now you get to interrogate me.’ He holds his hands out in front of him, wrists together. Heath raises his eyebrows at Michael. He nods. Heath approaches carefully and clicks the cuffs into place around Manes’ wrist. He takes his sidearm while he’s at it and checks for other weapons. Manes stands perfectly still. He doesn’t try anything. Michael is kind of surprised.

‘So, which Manes are you?’ Xavi asks when Heath has taken _three_ knifes of Manes’ person. Manes makes an unimpressed face.

‘Alex.’

‘The youngest, right?’ Xavi says, looking mostly at Heath who nods.

‘The computer expert.’ Heath adds.

‘The smart Manes.’ Michael says and Manes’ eyes turn to him.

‘Are we taking him in?’ Xavi asks, and Michael tilts his head, like he’s thinking about it. Manes narrows his eyes.

‘Do I have one of those handprints on my neck?’ He asks. Michael checks and sure enough, the place where Michael’s hand had been pressed against his neck is already starting to shimmer.

‘Yes.’ Michael says and Manes makes a face. Not necessarily disgusted, more like it’s all a big… inconvenience.

‘Well, you’re going to have to take me prisoner.’ Manes says and Michael raises his eyebrows. He’s taken a few humans prisoner in his life, but he doesn’t think any of them ever requested to be taken as a prisoner of war.

‘Excuse me?’ Heath says.

‘If my father sees that’ he gestures at his neck. ‘on me, he’ll shoot me in the head.’

‘Why?’ Xavi asks, horrified.

‘Because I’m “compromised”.’

‘That’s ridiculous, it doesn’t work like that.’ Michael says, frowning. It’s not like the connection is permanent, nor is it any more than just a transfer of emotions. It could be more, but both parties had to be cooperating for that to happen.

‘I know.’ Manes says. ‘We’ve done the research, doesn’t mean my father will actually believe it.’

‘That’s insane.’ Xavi frowns, Manes turns to him with a wry smile.

‘Welcome to my life.’

‘Alright, enough talking.’ Heath says with a sharp frown. He takes hold of Manes’ upper arm and starts dragging him in the direction of their ship. Xavi tilts his head and frowns, but follows after Heath none the less.

Michael knows what that’s about. Xavi has always been one to sympathize, he wasn’t born for war. Down in his soul, he’s kind and he wants to see the good in everyone, no matter what they’ve done or who they are. Heath isn’t like that. Heath was born in a family of soldiers, he lost his father when he was a boy to the war he is now fighting. His only goal every day is survive, so that eventually, he can go home to his own baby boy.

Michael follows the team back to the ship. Manes doesn’t struggle, he doesn’t try to get away, he just watches everything closely with those sharp eyes. For a second, Michael wonders if this was his plan, to get caught so he could get inside their base.

‘Blindfold him.’ Michael orders as they step onto the ship. He won’t be able to see much, they’re putting him in the cell specially designed to transfer prisoners, but Manes seems smart and Michael doesn’t want to take any risks.

‘Kinky.’ He’s not even sure if he heard that right, Manes mumbles it under his breath, but Xavi’s eyes light up, so Michael is pretty sure he hadn’t imagined it. Michael can feel heat crawl up his neck and high into his cheeks.

‘Shut up.’ Michael says, and Heath yanks Manes along towards the cell as Xavi goes and grabs a blindfold for Manes.

‘If you want me to shut up, you’ll have to gag me too.’ Manes smirks at him and Michael rolls his eyes. Heath pushes Manes down on the bench in the cell and shackles his hands to the floor. Xavi comes in and with an apologetic look, he pulls a blindfold over Manes’ eyes. He ties it good and tight, Heath making sure it’s secure. Manes shifts as the two head out of the cell and when they close the door, he seems to just settle against the wall. He’s not quite relaxed, but he doesn’t look bothered either. In fact, he looks almost relieved.

‘Take us to Base.’ Michael says and Heath heads over to the cockpit, Xavi bouncing after him, asking if he can do the take-off today. Michael should probably have just gone and sat with them, checked up on his team, but there’s something about Manes that keeps him there.

Max had said he would be able to feel any extreme emotions the other felt, all the way from love to hate, fear, excitement, anything like that. He doesn’t feel anything from Manes right now. He has his hands folded together, head resting back against the wall. The handprint on his neck is becoming more defined, shimmering with all of these different colours under the artificial light in the ship.

Michael hadn’t chosen such a visible place on purpose. He’d just reached for the first bit of bare skin he saw. But with the way the handprint curls around Manes’ neck, there is no way to hide it.

‘You’re staring at me, General.’ Manes says, Michael can hear him just fine over the humming of the engine as, presumably Heath, flies them homewards. Xavi’s take-offs are never this smooth.

‘I’m just making sure you don’t try anything.’ He lies. Manes huffs like he doesn’t believe him and, to be fair, it isn’t exactly why Michael is watching him.

Manes is, objectively of course, very good-looking. Now that he’s not actively dying, his skin is tanned and looks soft and warm. Under the dust and the blood, he looks strong, much more like a warrior than a computer expert. His face is all angles and Michael can’t quite keep his eyes away from his mouth. That pouty bottom lip is just begging to be bitten.

No.

He was not going there.

The Manes family are all monsters. The worst of humanity. It doesn’t matter that this Manes seems charming and snarky and is attractive on top of that. He is the smart one, the one that would somehow find ways to keep Antar’s smartest out of humanities secrets, the one that was spoken off with a little less hatred than the rest of them. It doesn’t matter, the least bad of the Manes family, is still awful.

‘I can feel you thinking.’ Manes says. ‘It’s weird.’ He’s still leaning back and he obviously can’t look at Michael, but he still feels like Manes is watching him.

‘No you can’t.’ Michael says. ‘That’s not part of the connection.’ Manes smiles. He tilts his head.

‘I wasn’t really talking about the connection. I can feel that you’re still staring at me.’ He says and Michael clenches his jaw. He’s kind of infuriating.

‘Like I said, I’m just making sure you don’t try anything.’ Michael repeats, more forcefully this time. Manes nods slowly.

‘Sure.’ But he doesn’t sound like he believes Michael at all. Which is annoying. 

‘Just stop talking.’

‘Stop staring at me.’

‘You’re a prisoner, you don’t get to make demands.’

‘I have rights.’

‘Oh please, _Manes_. You don’t give a damn about anyone’s rights, why should I care about yours?’ Michael snaps, he’s heard the stories of how Antarians were treated by humans, by General Manes specifically. Of course, they didn’t have proof, but still, he knew what they were like.

‘To prove you’re better than me?’ Manes offers, Michael can feel he’s getting angry, he’s just not sure if it’s his emotions, or Manes’. ‘Isn’t that what this is all about, General?’ Manes sounds less friendly now, there’s a tightness in his voice that wasn’t there before.

‘What is that supposed to mean?’

‘Your kind crash-landed on _our_ planet. You started this war.’

‘Your _kind_ , tortured, murdered and dissected my ancestors.’

‘Right, so all of humanity has to pay for the sins of the grandfathers of _maybe_ , fifteen people that were involved in that, after the initial crash?’

‘Your father has murdered, imprisoned and tortured more than enough of my people.’ Michael feels like his anger is amplified, which, maybe it is. His powers are pushing and pulling at him, something in him is screaming to _destroy_.

‘My father is a monster.’ The admission is honest and clear, and there’s no follow-up, no “but”, at least, not to that statement. ‘But there’s so many soldiers, good people, that have died in this war, that didn’t need to die.’

‘You believe your father is a monster?’ Michael asks. It’s like all the fight has been drained from him, and it’s replaced by a blank, empty feeling.

‘You think you know him, but I grew up with him.’ Something about that statement makes Michael feel cold.

‘I thought all you Manes men were supposed to be murderous bastards.’

‘And I was taught all Antarians were cold, heartless monsters, but here we are.’ Manes says with a shrug. Michael isn’t sure what to say to that, so he gets up and heads towards the cockpit. He stays there with Heath and Xavi until they land at base.

While Heath takes Manes to a cell, Michael goes to see his brother.

‘Michael.’ Max smiles as he enters Max’s work room.

‘Hey.’ Michael says, flopping down on the chair across from Max’s desk. ‘I brought something back.’ Max frowns.

‘I thought this would just be a routine check, what happened?’ Max leant forward, taking a closer look at Michael. ‘Why is there blood on your wrist? Are you okay?’ Michael blinks and he looks down at his own wrist. Ah.

‘Oh, there was a soldier there, he was hurt. I ended up healing him, it’s his blood.’ Max is still frowning after Michael has explained.

‘You healed someone?’

‘He was dying.’ Michael says, more defensively than he’d meant to. ‘Plus, we can interrogate him now.’ Max seems to know there’s more to it. ‘It’s Alex Manes.’ Max straightens up immediately.

‘ _Manes_?’ He stands up. ‘You captured a Manes? Why didn’t you lead with that?’

‘I was getting there.’ Michael says defensively. Max looks completely unimpressed, which he supposes he deserves.

‘The Caufield files, get them.’ Max orders and Michael rolls his eyes. ‘He’s a Manes, he should know more about this, we can get the intel we need and we can shut it down.’

‘He’s not going to talk.’

‘We’ll make him talk.’ Max says and Michael ignores the apprehension that swoops through his stomach.

‘Can we at least wait until tomorrow?’ Michael asks. ‘I’m not at full strength. Let’s sleep on it, let him stew for a bit.’ Max makes an annoyed noise.

‘Fine, but first thing tomorrow, we’re interrogating him.’

‘Tell us about Caufield.’ Is what Max opens with as he enters the interrogation room that Manes has been brought to. He’s clearly been allowed to wash some of the blood off his face and hands, the clothes he’s wearing are theirs and it’s almost like he hadn’t been on the verge of death less than twenty four hours ago. The handprint on his neck shimmers, a stark reminder that he _had_ nearly died and Michael can’t stop glancing at it.

‘I don’t know what that is.’ Manes says and Michael sighs. He leans back against the wall as Max narrows his eyes.

‘Don’t play dumb, tell us about Caufield.’

‘I don’t know what that is.’ Manes repeats.

‘We can and will get this information out of you. _How_ is up to you.’ Max says and Michael thinks that was probably a bad idea. Manes turns to Michael.

‘You were bitching at me about humans torturing your people, right?’ Manes tilts his head and Michael knows exactly where this is going. ‘Now, I’ve only been here for about five minutes and your prince is already threatening to torture me.’ Manes nods, pressing his lips together. ‘Great start in proving to me how much better than us you are.’

‘Just tell us what we want to know.’ Michael says. ‘If you want me to believe you’re not as much of a monster as your father is, you should want this to be destroyed.’

‘I don’t know what this Caufield is.’ Manes says, trying to emphasise the words even more. Michael clenches his jaw and steps forward. He puts the InfoPad down on the table and makes it come to life.

‘This is Caufield.’ Michael shoves the images in front of Manes. Manes frowns and Michael can feel his confusion through their bond as he takes in the pictures. He actually hadn’t known. Michael realizes. He makes eye contact with Max, and he can tell he can read it on Michael’s face.

‘What the fuck?’ Manes says softly, he reaches out to the tablet with his bound hands, Michael lets him.

‘It’s a prison.’ Michael says. Alex zooms in on the satellite picture, frowns at the building it shows. He swipes to the page with the little intel Michael’s people had been able to gather about the secret prison. Alex frowns as his eyes fly over the page.

‘This is fucking ridiculous.’ He says.

‘We’ve known about this place for a few weeks, but we haven’t been able to find out more than this, and also, we haven’t had the opportunity to bring it up.’ Michael says. Alex looks up at him. Michael can see him thinking.

‘If this is what I think it is, I can get you more intel and I can also be the reason for you to play this card.’ He looks determined and angry.

‘Go on.’ Max says.

‘I genuinely didn’t know about this place, that means the security can’t be that good.’ He says and Michael smirks, Manes throws him a unimpressed look and continues. ‘You could trade me for the prisoners in there. My father won’t want news of that place to come out. I’ve got one of the highest security clearances and I didn’t know, that means it’s probably not exactly legal.’

‘You want to help us?’ Max asks. Alex looks up at him with a fierce determination on his face.

‘My father is a monster. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get him tossed in prison for years. This might be it.’ Alex says. ‘I’m a soldier, but I don’t enjoy war. Peace has always been my end goal, it’s not like that for my father.’ Alex points at the images on the tablet sharply. ‘This is unacceptable.’ Michael finds himself smiling sharply.

‘Well, this is going to be interesting.’

They let Alex Manes work on their technology, Michael insists there must always be someone with him that knows what they’re doing. Just to make sure he’s not playing a game with them. He doesn’t believe he is though. There’s something about the anger Michael can feel through their bond, the fury directed at his own father, the easy way he’d decided to side with them over his own people.

It makes Michael want to feel suspicious, but he doesn’t. He’d know if Manes was trying to deceive him. Right? He actually relieves one of the men watching Manes on their systems, and keeps watch himself. Manes looks over his shoulder and raises a questioning eyebrow.

He's still wearing the plain, Antarian clothes. It had taken him only about two minutes to figure out how the Antarian system worked and then he’d been off, hacking into his own people’s systems. He looks terrifyingly at home here.

‘To what do I owe the pleasure, General?’ Manes asks, looking back at the screens, fingers dancing over the keys elegantly. He’s got very nice hands.

‘Just checking on the progress.’ Manes has only been at it for a few hours and he’s already made more progress than his people had in a week.

‘Well, it’s not my programming, but it’s a modified version of it. That makes it both easier and harder. It’s not always logical, but I’m making steady progress while covering my tracks.’ Manes says. Michael hums.

He watches for a while longer. Michael isn’t a computer expert by any stretch of the imagination, but he does know about mechanics and it almost looks like Manes is taking apart an engine, but on a computer screen. It’s about an hour later, five hours after he started, that Manes makes a triumphant noise.

‘You’re in?’ Michael asks.

‘Oh yeah. Easy.’

‘It took you five hours.’

‘On a system I’m not familiar with, hacking into something I didn’t even know existed before today, five hours is _fast_.’ Manes says, pushing his chair to the side so Michael can see what he’s got.

‘What have you found?’ Michael asks, scooting his chair closer.

He figures out pretty quickly that Manes has pretty much created a backdoor into the system of Caufield. He can access all of the files that aren’t encrypted on the server itself. He says he could get into those as well, but it would take more time. He shows Michael that there are thirty five Antarians being held in the prison. Thirty five.

They contact General Manes that evening. They keep their message short and sweet. They have his son, they want to meet in the morning to discuss the terms of his release. They tell him where to meet them and at what time. The only reply they get is a confirmation he’ll be there. He doesn’t even ask about his son’s health.

That night, Michael has trouble sleeping. The images of the men and women trapped in that horrible place haunt him. They’re going to get them out, he promises himself over and over again. It doesn’t seem to help. There’s something else nagging at him, something dark in the pit of his stomach, but he just can’t figure out where it’s coming from. Why is he feeling so anxious? So… scared? He runs a hand through his hair, trying to breathe through another wave of anxious energy.

Manes.

His brain suddenly supplies. That’s why he’s feeling so anxious, he’s feeling what Manes is feeling. He’s scared. Michael pushes himself out of his bed before he can overthink it. He hops into some plain clothes and heads towards their cells. The guards look surprised, but they don’t question him and let him into Manes’ cell. He’s not even in his bed. He’s sitting with his back against the wall, on the floor in the corner. He looks up when Michael enters and sighs.

‘I was trying to keep it under control.’ He says. Apparently it’s clear why Michael is here. Michael isn’t even really sure what his plan is. What is he supposed to do, say? I could feel you were panicking and I was worried? He’s known the guy for about twenty four hours. He’s supposed to be a prisoner. ‘I’m fine.’ Manes says, he’s looking at Michael with apprehension in his eyes.

‘Why are you so anxious?’ Michael asks. Manes stares at him for a few seconds.

‘You don’t look as intimidating without all that armour on.’ Manes says instead of answering Michael’s question. Michael is aware that he can look about seventeen when he shaves and dresses down like this. He rolls his eyes.

‘Don’t evade my question.’ Manes clenches his jaw.

‘The whole memory sharing thing, how controlled is that?’ He asks, and it’s, again, not an answer to Michael’s question. ‘Can you see everything or could I decide what you see?’

‘Why are you asking me this?’

‘Curious.’ That’s a lie if Michael ever heard one. He stares at Manes. He doesn’t want to cave. He wants and answer. ‘I’m a prisoner of war, why wouldn’t I be anxious?’

‘You’ve been fine this whole time.’ Michael argues. Manes just keeps his mouth shut and glares at him, he doesn’t feel particularly angry though. ‘Ugh, fine. I was just making sure you were okay, but whatever.’ Michael says and it’s a really childish thing to do, but it’s late and he’s tired. He motions for the guards to let him out.

‘Why would you care if I was okay?’ Manes asks while Michael has his back turned to him. He sounds genuinely curious. 

‘Your anxiousness was keeping me awake.’ Michael lies before stepping out of the cell. ‘Get yourself under control.’ He motions for the door to be closed and ignores Manes’ glare.

Both Michael and Max are dressed fully to their ranks. Michael shifts in his armour, it moves with him like it always does. It’s a little bit like being hugged. He still remembers nearly crying the first time he put it on.

They’re waiting for General Manes in a tense silence. They’re meeting at one of their ground bases, on their turf. Manes is standing a few paces away from them with two guards on each side. His hands are shackled and a chain connects them to the shackles around his ankles. Even though he’s technically working with them, they still want to make it seem like he’s just their prisoner.

General Manes comes walking in like he owns the place. He has the agreed two guards with him. Michael expects him to follow the normal etiquette humans follow around him and Max, but the General seems to think he’s above that. General Manes takes one look at his son and then stalks closer. For a second, Michael thinks he might hug him. It’s been two days since he’d been taken prisoner by them, he can imagine he’s been scared for him. However, Michael can feel the sweep of fear that Alex is feeling.

The General’s hand closes around Alex’s throat, on the opposite side of Michael’s handprint. He tilts Alex’s head back in a hard, uncaring gesture, his eyes fixed on the glimmering mark.

‘You let one of them _touch_ you?’ General Manes says venomously. He can see Alex clench his jaw.

‘General Rath healed me.’ Alex says, his voice comes out choked and Michael realizes he can’t breathe properly.

‘He was dying.’ Michael says, drawing on every last bit of authority he can manage in the face of such a cruel man. ‘I would appreciate it if you didn’t undo my work, it cost me a lot of energy.’ He says it blankly, like he wouldn’t really care either way. General Manes’ eyes snap to him. They’re cold and blue and everything Alex’s eyes aren’t.

Next to him, he can feel Max’s tension.

General Manes tries, badly, to hide his disgust as he looks at Michael, but he releases Alex. Alex immediately swallows, but doesn’t gasp for breath, even though he probably wants to. General Manes turns his eyes back to his son. Michael can feel the fear slowly being replaced by anger, hatred. Alex hadn’t been lying, he does despise his father. Michael agrees.

‘Your son will be staying here until you hand over all the prisoners out of the place they call Caufield.’ Max says, he sounds regal and calm, but Michael can feel his nerves. Manes’ face doesn’t give anything away.

‘The prisoners from where?’ He asks, he’s a good actor when he wants to be, Michael has to give him that.

‘Caufield.’ Max repeats, slower, like he’s talking to a child.

‘I’m not sure-‘

‘We know.’ Michael interrupts. He’s so tired of this man already. ‘You can stop pretending, we have satellite images and several internal documents, we know where it is and how many Antarians are there. They will be traded for your son.’ Michael isn’t going to debate over this.

‘And how exactly did you acquire this information?’ General Manes asks, but his eyes dart to Alex and his lip twitches. Michael smiles.

‘It wasn’t your son, if that’s what you’re thinking. No, he’s been very stubborn, kept his mouth shut. We’ve known about Caufield for a while.’ Michael says. It’s not quite true, but it’s not quite a lie either.

‘So you want us to trade thirty of your-‘

‘Thirty five.’ Michael corrects him.

‘You want us to trade thirty five of your kind for _one_ of ours?’

‘Is your son not worth that to you?’ Max asks, and it’s a dangerous question.

‘He’s a valuable asset, is he not?’ Michael adds. If normal familial bonds aren’t enough for this waste of space, maybe value would be. Alex has gone tense and very still. Michael is trying not to look at him, because if he does, he’ll want to reach out to him, and he can’t do that right now.

‘We will have to deliberate on this.’ Manes says and he doesn’t even look at his son once. ‘We will contact you within 24 hours.’

‘Alright.’ Max says and without another word, Manes is heading out of the room. It’s not until the door closes behind his father that Alex relaxes. Michael can feel his own relief magnified through his connection with Alex.

‘Are you okay?’ Michael asks. Alex looks over at him, his eyes are hard, but Michael can feel he’s shaken.

‘Much better now.’ Now that he’s gone.

‘Is that why you were so anxious last night?’ Michael asks. He’s putting the pieces together now. Alex looks at him steadily for a second and then nods.

‘Yes.’

‘Your father has treated you like this before?’ Max asks and Alex’s eyes dart to him.

‘Ever since I was about twelve.’ It’s a little bit like someone slaps Michael in the face.

‘Why?’ Michael asks. He’d thought the Manes family was one cohesive unit of murderous assholes. To find out one of their own had been the target of their trademark cruelty was a shock to say the least.

‘Because he figured out I wasn’t into girls.’ Manes says it with a challenging tilt of his head. Michael can feel a wave of rage pass through him, his own combined with Manes’ it seems. ‘And because I was under the impression we were fighting for peace, for a cease fire, a deal of some sort, but I figured out a while ago that my father doesn’t want peace, he wants to win, he wants victory.’

‘He wants destruction and he doesn’t care how he gets it.’ Max says and Alex nods sharply.

‘If I can help you bring him down, I will. If he’s out of the picture, someone decent can take over, and we can end this endless war.’ Alex says.

There’s something about his complete willingness to basically overthrow his father that makes Michael want to believe him. There’s something so familiar about the anger Alex radiates. This distaste over the injustice of this war, of Caufield, of innocent people dying, he feels the same. Soldiers are just soldiers, following orders, it’s the men like General Manes that are the real monsters, and if his own son thinks he has to be removed, maybe it’s time to take things to the next level.

‘If people found out about you helping us put him away, would you be charged with treason?’ Michael asks and Alex makes a face, he shrugs, not quite as casual as he probably meant it to be.

‘Maybe.’ Alex shifts his hands and Michael realizes he’s still chained up. It sends a pang of guilt though him, so he steps forward and undoes he cuffs with his telekinesis. Alex blinks at him as the cuffs fall to the floor. Alex steps back from them and picks them up, weighing them in his hands almost thoughtfully. ‘When we do the transfer, you can also undo these from a distance, right?’ Michael frowns.

‘Yeah?’ Alex nods slowly, but doesn’t elaborate.

‘Can I use your computers for a little longer?’ Michael can see Max frown a little from the corner of his eye, but Michael is curious.

‘Sure, same rules as before.’ Alex nods and after a quick word from Max, the guards lead Alex away to the ship.

Michael sighs as the doors are closed and he can feel Max looking at him.

‘What’s going on?’ Max asks, eyes slightly narrowed.

‘What do you mean?’ Michael asks in return. Max looks sincerely unimpressed.

‘Manes, you seem to trust him.’ Max pushes.

‘You don’t?’

‘Not entirely. Sure, he’s helped us with Caufield, but there’s a difference between helping shut down an illegal prison and overthrowing your own father.’ Max says, he’s doing that thing where he taps his fingers against his leg when he’s thinking hard about something.

‘You heard what he said about how his father treated him, you _saw_ how his father treated him. He barely even looked at him, we’ve had Alex for days, and he didn’t even seem concerned.’ Michael says, unable to keep the sharpness from his voice.

‘Alex?’ Max asks with a raised eyebrow and Michael sighs, feeling heat creep up his neck.

‘Well that’s his name, isn’t it?’ He says defensively.

‘Sure.’ Max says, he clearly doesn’t believe it. He heads off, leaving Michael standing there on his own. He sighs, rubbing his hands over his face before following Max towards the ship.

The humans accept their proposal exactly 12 hours later. They set up the exchange for two days later.

The connection Michael has with Alex slowly fades, along with the handprint, but he doesn’t really stop wanting to be around him, which is all kinds of weird.

He doesn’t understand, but he does. Alex is smart as hell, and for a guy with the last name Manes, he’s really good at making friends with Antarians. Their computer guys all like him, even the guys that guard his cell like him. He’s _charming_ , and stubborn and he calmly, systematically worms his way into daily life. He’s been here a week and Michael is afraid he’s going to be _missed_. Not by Michael, obviously, but by others. He wants to hate him. He keeps trying to remind himself that this is the son of the man that has murdered, tortured and imprisoned hundreds of Michael’s people. But then Alex smiles, or makes a snarky comment or shows how brutally intelligent he is and Michael can’t, he can’t hate him.

Max likes him, hell Isobel likes him, and she doesn’t like anyone that isn’t family. Isobel, who only met Alex after she returned from her latest “secret mission”, 24 hours ago, says she likes him because “he’s got personality”. Whatever that’s supposed to mean. She also has decided that Michael _likes_ him. Which is ridiculous.

So what if Alex- _Manes_ has really soft looking hair, cheekbones for days, warm eyes and a mouth that draws Michael’s eyes to it at all times? So what if Michael stares at his hands when he works on their computers, searching through human files for stuff he won’t tell them about yet, but that he assures them is in their favour?

Their computer experts assured him that as long as Alex stays in the human networks, which he has, he can’t be looking into their systems, which is good. He’s not sure what he’s doing, but to Michael it looks like he’s gathering intel. He’s also absolutely poking around in places he’s not supposed to be. The way he’ll bite at his bottom lip or drum his fingers on his leg are a pretty good indicator he’s breaking a rule of some kind.

When the day of the exchange rolls around, Alex is nervous again. This time, Michael can’t feel it through their connection, but he can read it all over him none the less. He seems to want to say something, he keeps opening his mouth and then clamping it shut again. Michael isn’t sure what to do about it.

‘Okay.’ Alex says, he’s pacing. Michael is holding the chains he’ll be wearing in his hands. They’re in a side room, waiting for Max to confirm General Manes is here and has kept his end of the deal.

‘What’s up?’ Michael asks and Alex throws him an annoyed look.

‘I’ve been debating with myself for the last two days, but I’ve run out of time, I need to make a decision.’ Alex says sharply.

‘Okay, what’s holding you back?’

‘You.’ Michael blinks at him.

‘Me?’

‘Yeah, you.’ Alex stops and turns to him. He pushes a hand into his pocket and pulls out one of their tiny drives. The kind you can use to store information. Alex twists it between his fingers. He watches Michael for a few heartbeats, jaw clenched and eyes slightly narrowed. ‘Here.’ He tosses the drive at Michael, who manages to catch it with one hand. He gives Alex an annoyed look as he already has his hands full with Alex’s chains. Alex doesn’t smile.

‘What’s on this?’ Michael asks, holding the drive up between his fingers.

‘Information.’ Alex says. ‘Put it away and don’t open it until the exchange is done and you’re back at base. Don’t let anyone see that you don’t trust one hundred percent.’ Michael frowns. ‘Okay?’ Alex presses when he doesn’t say anything.

‘Yeah, okay.’ Michael agrees, and he puts the drive in his pocket. Alex nods, relaxing a little and holding his wrists out for Michael.

‘Chain me up, General.’ Alex grins, but it’s not quite convincing. Michael rolls his eyes, but secures the chains around Alex’s wrists.

‘Are you going to be okay?’ He asks on a whim after he secures the bonds around his ankles. He straightens up and Alex is looking at him with a stranger expression on his face. Like he isn’t quite sure how to feel about this question, or about Michael.

‘Probably.’ That doesn’t sound convincing.

Michael realizes he’s close enough to see the specks of gold in Alex’s eyes. He sees the slight dark shades under his eyes, he scar over his eyebrow. He can also hear how Alex’s breath stutters just a little when his eyes are drawn to the soft curve of his bottom lip, again.

He’s just about to do something stupid when Max lets him know the General has arrived. Michael stumbles back, clears his throat and tells Alex as much. He nods, sets his face into the hard, uncaring mask, and leads the way out of the room, into the large hall.

The Antarians are neatly lined up on the other side of the large hall. It makes Michael’s skin crawl to see them like that. They look awful, and Michael can feel his hatred for the man on the other side of the room flare high. His powers swirl under his skin, begging him to just snap his neck, finish him off.

General Manes is not alone. He has several guards with him, and surrounding the Antarians with guns in their hands. Alex squares his shoulders and heads over to where Max and Isobel are.

‘Your son is here.’ Max says, he sounds calm, but Michael can hear the anger underneath it.

‘I can see that.’ General Manes says, annoyingly. ‘The prisoners will move at the same time. Take his restraints off.’

‘No. I will do that from a distance once he is half way.’ Michael says firmly. ‘Telekinesis.’ He wiggles his fingers, just to be annoying. By the way Manes clenches his jaw, it works. He can feel Max work not to roll his eyes.

‘Let’s get moving.’ Max says, and Manes nods firmly at the guards surrounding the Antarians. They start moving their people forward and Alex starts heading over to his father. He doesn’t look back, but his shoulders are tense, Michael ignores the little voice in his head telling him not to let him go. The shape of the drive in his pocket is a reminder that Alex has a plan. A plan he hasn’t shared with any of them, but a plan regardless.

Once Alex reaches the group, they all stop. Alex turns and Michael undoes the cuffs with a quick hand movement. They drop to the floor with a loud clank in the silence. Alex starts walking again and the guards follow him back in the direction of his father as the Antarians close the distance to them, where they have several healers waiting to move them right towards the ship so that they can be taken to safety.

Isobel, Max and Michael will take their own smaller ship. Michael doesn’t take his eyes off Alex until he disappears from view. His father doesn’t even look at him, barely acknowledges his presence. The only ones that seem to care that Alex is back are two of the guards that come towards him and both set a soft hand on his shoulder. He seems to tell them he’s fine, because they back off a little, but they don’t go far. Alex hesitates before leaving and glances over his shoulder once. Michael tries to convince himself Alex wasn’t looking back at him, but he’s not sure if that’s true.

The ship feels colder as they head back, and Michael spins the drive between his fingers, Max flies them back to base and Isobel, well, she’s staring at him.

‘What’s that?’ She asks, nodding at the drive.

‘A drive. Alex gave it to me before the exchange.’ Isobel raises her eyebrows.

‘ _Alex_ gave it to you?’ Michael rolls his eyes.

‘Yes, he said it contains information and that I couldn’t check it until we were back at base, and that I could only show it to people I trust completely.’ He explains. He can tell Max is listening as he flies, Isobel makes a face at him.

‘Really now, he didn’t tell you what kind of information was on it?’

‘Nope.’

‘Do you think it’s a virus or something?’ She asks and Michael hadn’t even considered that.

‘No, I think it’s the information he’d been gathering over the last few days.’

‘Information on what?’ Max asks as he steers the ship into the bay.

‘No idea.’ Michael says, spinning the drive again.

Him and Max make their way to Max’s office while Isobel goes and checks on the former prisoners. She promises them a full report, but she’s just as curious as to what’s on the drive, so she makes them go check that out. Michael falls into the chair behind Max’s desk that contains his computer and Max drags over the second chair. Michael plugs in the drive.

It takes a second to load. Once it opens, Michael clicks into the first file.

He can feel his mouth drop open as he scrolls through the first file and then the next, and the next.

‘Holy shit.’ He whispers. He can feel Max’s eyes on him.

‘What is it?’ Max asks, but Michael doesn’t know how to- ‘Michael I don’t understand what I’m looking at, what it this?’

‘It’s everything we need to get Jesse Manes thrown in prison for the rest of his life. It’s proof of his war crimes.’ Michael says, stunned and shocked.

‘Alex gave us this?’ Michael nods clicking into another file. Communications between General Manes and one of his Captains. Internal emails.

‘He’s wants us to bring his father down.’ Michael opens the next document. It’s different from the others, a simple note.

_They wouldn’t accept this if it came from me. You use this to destroy him. I will convince them to let me take over, we can make peace._ _– AM_

‘Fucking hell.’ Max says and it makes Michael laugh, delighted. Max never curses.

‘I know!’ Michael grins and he can’t stop grinning. Now that he’s realized what this is, what Alex has given him, what he’s done and what he no doubt risked for this, he can’t stop grinning. ‘We’re going to _destroy_ him.’ Max lets out a low laugh.

‘I’m going to enjoy this.’

‘You and me both, brother. You and me both.’

They don’t want to make it too obvious how they got the info, so they wait a few days and then request a meeting with the council of Generals. They go and they lay it all out for them, how one of their own has been committing war crimes for decades, and they show them proof. They lay it all out and Michael fucking loves watching Jesse Manes’ face drop. He can see the exact moment the other Generals decide to turn against him, where they decide he’s beyond saving.

He is arrested on the spot, and Michael smirks as they have to drag him from the room, kicking and screaming. He’s fuming, demanding they tell him how they got this information. Everyone ignores him and they wait until the screams have disappeared down the hall before General Valenti continues.

‘I hope you’ll forgive us for that display of… dramatics.’

‘I quite enjoyed it.’ Michael says and Max kicks him under the table.

‘I do wonder, how _did_ you get all of this information?’ Max and Michael make eye contact. They’d talked about the possibility of this question coming up, they’d agreed to keep it vague.

‘We have talented-‘ Max gets interrupted by a new voice.

‘I gave it to them.’ Michael whips his head around. Sure enough, in the door opening, is Alex fucking Manes. He looks awful. He’s got a black eye, a split lip and his right arm is in a sling.

‘How did you get in here?’ One of the other Generals asks. Alex makes a face.

‘The guards that were guarding the door are a little busy dragging my father to a dark, lonely prison cell.’ Alex says with a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. Michael doesn’t think he’s ever been as attracted to anyone as he is to Alex Manes in that moment.

‘Alex. You gave them this information?’ General Valenti asks, and there’s a familiarity there that Michael doesn’t quite understand. Alex walks into the room and nods. ‘Why?’

‘Because my father is a monster, but neither you nor anyone else would listen to me when I told you, so I started gathering information, figured I’d compile it all into one massive pile of evidence you couldn’t ignore, but then I ended up in the hands of these guys and I figured out that my father had been running the Caufield prison illegally.’ Alex shrugs. ‘So I helped them get their people out of there, and then I gave them the information to take him down. I figured you’d listen to them.’ He motions around the room. ‘And here we are.’

‘You betrayed your own father?’ Alex looks positively deadly as he turned to the General that had spoken.

‘See this-‘ He pointed at his face and his arm. ‘They didn’t do that, my father did.’

‘But Jesse said-‘

‘Haven’t you figured it out yet? He’s a manipulative bastard and a liar.’ Alex interrupted. General Valenti was looking at him with regret written all over his face.

‘All those years?’ Alex huffed.

‘Please, Jim, how many times did you actually believe I fell from a tree or fell over or got elbowed playing basketball.’ Alex says with a sneer. ‘He’s always been like this, but you still gave him power. Now, we’ll have to try and atone for his sins.’

‘And how do you suggest we do that?’

‘We make peace with Antar.’ Alex says. ‘We make peace and we let him rot in a jail cell for the rest of his hopefully miserable life.’ General Valenti looks over at them, he looks uncomfortable, like he’s just realized they’re still here.

‘I think that’s a great idea, what about you?’ Michael says and Max nods.

‘Yeah, I think that’s a great idea.’ Max folds his hands under his chin. ‘I also think you should probably promote him, because he seems to be the only one with some sort of sense around here.’ 

‘You’d make peace with us, just like that?’ General Valenti asks, he looks like he’s considering it. Like he realizes that the revelation that one of their own leaders was an absolute monster could damage not just Manes’ reputation, but all of theirs too.

‘I don’t think any more innocent people need to die.’ Max shrugs. ‘And also, I’ve realized that if we can work together with a Manes, we can probably figure out a way to make peace.’

‘And of course, if you don’t want to do that, we could always leak everything we have to the press and let them rip you all apart.’ Michael adds.

‘The criticism on this war has been ramping up over the last few months,’ Alex says as he makes his way around the room, the Generals look uncomfortable. ‘can you imagine what they’d do if they found out about this? You all overlooked General Manes’ torture and murder habits for _years_.’

‘We didn’t know.’ One of them tries to argue, but Alex just rolls his eyes.

‘Oh please, no one is going to believe that. That would either make you incredibly ignorant or just stupid.’ Alex stops near the man and follows up with: ‘Also, there’s several documents in there that suggest you at least had your suspicions about my father’s behaviour, you just never did anything about it.’

‘What do you want, Alex?’ General Valenti asks.

‘I never want to have to look at my father’s face again, unless he’s behind bars, and I want peace.’ He says. ‘This war should have been over years ago, you all know it, we just don’t like to admit that we can’t win. This war started over survival, now that we know that Antarians aren’t just murderous, cold-hearted evil, let’s not treat them as such.’ General Valenti sighs.

‘How do you suggest we go about this?’ He asks Max, mostly.

‘I say we start negotiations as soon as possible.’ Max says. ‘We do have a few requests, obviously, but they can be discussed later. The one thing I should mention now, is that I would prefer if _this_ Manes was there for the negotiations.’ He looks at Michael.

‘Yeah, I agree. We trust this one.’ Michael doesn’t miss the way Alex looks at him, even if it’s only for a second.

‘We can do that.’ General Valenti agrees. ‘We should make a cease fire while we negotiate.’

‘Yes, we should.’ Max agrees.

Alex leans back against the wall as Max and General Valenti talk about their cease fire. Michael can’t stop glancing at him.

When the cease fire is agreed on and the Generals head out, Max looks between him and Alex, who’s still there and gives Michael a _look_.

‘I’ll wait for you at the ship.’ He says before heading out as well, squeezing Michael’s shoulder as he passes by him. He actually closes the door behind him, leaving Michael and Alex alone in the room.

‘So,’ Alex says. ‘that was interesting.’

‘You were a badass.’ Michael says, stepping a little closer to where Alex is still leaning against the wall.

‘I was just making sure they didn’t try to sweep this under the rug.’ Alex says with a shrug. ‘I told you I want peace, and I meant it.’

‘And we’re going to get it, thanks to you.’ Michael smiles. ‘You are a hero, Alex Manes.’

‘You’re the one that saved my life.’

‘And what you just did will save thousands.’ Michael hesitates, but reaches out anyways, brushing his fingers along Alex’s jaw and his thumb along his bottom lip. ‘Does it hurt?’ Alex’s eyes are drawing him in closer, it’s like a magnetic pull he can’t resist.

‘Not really.’ Alex says softly. ‘I’ve had worse.’ Michael can’t help but chuckle at that. Alex smiles a tiny little smile. Michael realizes he’s still holding Alex’s face, but he can’t quite find a reason to stop, so he doesn’t.

‘We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other, huh?’

‘Hm, yeah. What a hardship.’ Alex teases and Michael makes an offended noise.

‘You know, a lesser man, might be hurt by that.’

‘You mean a man with a lesser ego?’

‘Okay, you know what, I was going to offer to kiss and make your boo boo better, but now, I’m not going to.’ Michael says, pressing his lips together, trying not to smile. Alex hums.

‘Well, that’s unfortunate.’ He says, at the same time he sets his good hand against Michael’s waist. Michael knows he’s doing this on purpose. He widens his eyes and pouts and Michael is weak.

He sets aside his pride. Even if Alex says it doesn’t hurt much, he still kisses him carefully. Sliding the hand that’s still on Alex’s jaw, further back so he can feel if his hair is as soft as it looks. It is. Alex kisses him back, careful, but more insistent. The cut on his lip is a stark contrast to the softness of the rest of his mouth. Michael feels a warm sense of _this feels_ _right_ wash all over him, and he lets his forehead rest against Alex’s as he breaks their kiss. They share breath for a few seconds before Michael forces himself to step back.

‘We’re doing that again, when your lip is better, yes?’

‘Obviously.’ Alex replies. He looks a little dazed and Michael is kind of proud. ‘Don’t make your prince wait too long.’

‘See you around.’ Michael says, walking backwards out of the room, keeping his eyes on Alex as long as possible.

‘See you around.’ Alex replies, still leaning back against the wall, but he’s grinning now as he wiggles the fingers of his bad hand in a pseudo wave.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


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